American Ak-47's

In 1930 Mikhail Kalashnikov's father was deported from the Soviet Union by Stalin. What if he had escaped the country, settling in New York with his wife and 11 year old son. He changes his name to Calish and the family become strong patriots to their new home.
Micheal Calish joined the U.S army on the day of Pearl Harbor and fought in Italy before being injured in the invasion of Normandy. While in the hospital he passed his time by designing weapons. After the war he married a French nurse that had treated him and bought a patent on the new rifle he had designed. In 1946 Colt bought the rights to the gun and he became a successful poet in the United States, winning a Nobel prize for his work in 1954.
 
Our troops equipped with his rifles are better off in Korea and Vietnam, the Ruskies will have to come up with something else (or just copy us), and Calish is remembered as a hero of America and democracy in general, similar to John Browning.
 
The problem is that for the Soviets, the AK-47 was a perfect weapon. It was easy to make, rugged, and easy to train the large Armies of the Warsaw Pact with. The US isn't as inclined to adopt an AK-47 like Rifle. The US Military has always seemed to like rifles that are accurate and complex.
 

The Dude

Banned
The problem is that for the Soviets, the AK-47 was a perfect weapon. It was easy to make, rugged, and easy to train the large Armies of the Warsaw Pact with. The US isn't as inclined to adopt an AK-47 like Rifle. The US Military has always seemed to like rifles that are accurate and complex.


But this scenario also takes the AK away from the Russians. That could have some major effects on it's own.
 

Deleted member 1487

In 1930 Mikhail Kalashnikov's father was deported from the Soviet Union by Stalin. What if he had escaped the country, settling in New York with his wife and 11 year old son. He changes his name to Calish and the family become strong patriots to their new home.
Micheal Calish joined the U.S army on the day of Pearl Harbor and fought in Italy before being injured in the invasion of Normandy. While in the hospital he passed his time by designing weapons. After the war he married a French nurse that had treated him and bought a patent on the new rifle he had designed. In 1946 Colt bought the rights to the gun and he became a successful poet in the United States, winning a Nobel prize for his work in 1954.

His upbringing and the military culture he was trained in would radically change his views on weapon design if indeed he designed any at all. OTL he was responding to the German assault rifle, even copying the gas ejection system, designing it for the peasant Russian conscript to use. In the US army he would have been acclimated to the Garand instead, reducing the need for a fully automatic rifle, probably designing a weapon for the better educated American soldier, which means something more complex and machined with finer tolerances for a more accurate weapon. That is what the American military doctrine called for, not cheap, spray-and-pray automatic weapons.


But this scenario also takes the AK away from the Russians. That could have some major effects on it's own.

The Soviets were testing several rifles that were very similar to the AK at the time. Kalashnikov's weapon was the best developed during testing, but something else very similar would replace it.
 
In 1930 Mikhail Kalashnikov's father was deported from the Soviet Union by Stalin. What if he had escaped the country, settling in New York with his wife and 11 year old son. He changes his name to Calish and the family become strong patriots to their new home.
Micheal Calish joined the U.S army on the day of Pearl Harbor and fought in Italy before being injured in the invasion of Normandy. While in the hospital he passed his time by designing weapons. After the war he married a French nurse that had treated him and bought a patent on the new rifle he had designed. In 1946 Colt bought the rights to the gun and he became a successful poet in the United States, winning a Nobel prize for his work in 1954.

Sorry, this wouldn't work, too many butterflies. If he were to move to the US he wouldn't get to invent the AK-47. If Kalashnikov's story is to be believe he got the idea to build weapons while listening to the complaints of other Russian soldiers about the standard Soviet infantry weapons. He wouldn't hear the same concerns from US soldiers. Generally they felt positive about the US infantry weapons in WW2 compared to the Germans. Also he wouldn't find any official support in the US military. Springfield Armory wasn't interested in any radical rifle designs after the war. Nor did the US have a program underway to develop the type of intermediate caliber round needed for an assault rifle. Sadly the US Army just didn't see enough combat against the StG 44 for them to jump start any sort of desire to adopt the AK-47. Just think in OTL the US Army had tons of combat experience in WW2 and Korea and still forced the 7.62x51mm round on the NATO, and then had the balls to back stab them on the FAL agreement.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was very lucky, he happened to be around at the perfect time. The Soviets had the 7.62x39mm round done and a program to adopt something to fire it before they started looking at his designs. Then they paid to fully develop it through the first failed stamped receiver AK-47, then the milled AK-47, and then the perfected AKM.

Now what happens to the Soviets? Nothing much. They still see the bulk of combat against the StG 44. They still develop the 7.62x39mm round in or around 1943. They still field the SKS and then become the second nation to field a true assault rifle. Maybe they pick one of other designs that competed against the AK-47. Maybe they fully develop the the Bulkin AB-46 or Sudaev AS-44 designs. Either way they still field an assault rifle 20 years before the US.
 
US AK type rifle?

The only way I can think of to get the AK in to the hands of the US Army is selling it as a weapon filling the M1 carbine/Thompson SMG role not as a replacement for the main infantry rifle M1 Garand. You have to somehow get Kalashnikov working for one of the major US firearms companies (At that time it was Colt, Winchester, Remington, Savage, High Standard, and H&R.) well before the US Army adopts the Winchester designed M1 carbine. He or the company would have to somehow design the 7.62x39mm round (a little ASB-ish)and also fund the rifles development. I am not sure the US arms makers had the equipment for the stamped steel receiver in the late 1930s so better make it first with the milled one. Then have the company submit them to the US Army for the M1 carbine contest. Of course then the US Army has to select it the winner.
 
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